Sex position

In the Greco-Roman era, a sex manual was written by Philaenis of Samos, possibly a hetaira (courtesan) of the Hellenistic period (3rd–1st century BC).

[3] The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana, believed to have been written in the 1st to 6th centuries, has a notorious reputation as a sex manual.

Alfred Kinsey categorized six primary positions,[4] The earliest known European medieval text dedicated to sexual positions is the Speculum al foderi, (The Mirror of Coitus) a 15th-century Catalan text discovered in the 1970s.

Variants include: In the spoons position both partners lie on their side, facing the same direction.

Also, various forms of erotic furniture and other apparatus such as fisting slings and trapezes have been used to facilitate even more exotic sexual positions.

Though certain sexual positions are believed to produce more favorable results than others, none of these are effective means of contraception.

The goal is to prevent excessive pressure on the belly and to restrict penetration as required by the particular partners.

As part of foreplay or to avoid penetrative sex, people engage in a variety of non-penetrative sexual behavior, which may or may not lead to orgasm.

While group sex does not imply that all participants must be in sexual contact with all others simultaneously, some positions are only possible with three or more people.

[41] Double penetration of the vagina, anus, or mouth can involve: Sexual practices vary between cultures.

The duration of sexual intercourse seems to be similar amongst European and Latin American couples.

Ten illustrations of sexual positions involving penile-vaginal penetration
A love scene sculpture from the Sunga period ( c. 1st century BCE )
Tondo of an Attic red-figure kylix by the Triptolemos Painter , c. 470 BC , Tarquinia National Museum
A rear-penetration position, commonly referred to as ' doggy style '
Doggy style in the lying position
The 'cowgirl' position
A couple performing sexual intercourse from a seated position, called the lotus position or lotus flower
One partner stands while holding up the other without a support, called the Suspended Congress in the Kama Sutra and Ekiben in Japanese
Anal sex between two men in the missionary position
The T-square position
A man and a woman having sex in the piledriver position
Modern drawing of fellatio
19th-century depiction of cunnilingus (detail) by Paul Avril
The 69 position
Woman performing anilingus on another woman
Drawing by Franz von Bayros showing an act of fingering
Double penetration
Threesome in Ancient Greece
Two men and two women ringed in a circular foursome sex position performing four combinations of oral sex: M–F, F–F, F–M, M–M